


Sleight of Hand

by zirkkun



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alder is the Headmaster, All the Gym Leaders and Professors are teachers/professors, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Fourth Year, Major Canonical Character(s), Major Original Character(s), Minor Canonical Character(s), POV First Person, POV Original Character, a good chunk of the characters are pretty minor too but I've developed them a lot lol, the Champions are House Heads
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:15:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7918345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zirkkun/pseuds/zirkkun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Pokemon Hogwarts AU ~ Has 2 OC siblings ~ No major ships ~ Title subject to change)</p><p>It's fourth year for Maike Dubois as she attends Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, there's one problem: she'd rather be out exploring the world as a Pokemon trainer, like most kids her age.<br/>The girl once lived in the Sinnoh region, but now attends this school just off the coast of Kalos with her closest friend, Barry Pearl. The only problem is that they were sorted into different Houses. She's been keeping in touch with him a rather clingy amount for three years, and only when she begins fourth year, does she actually begin to discover the different and varied people that live within her school. Not to mention, she discovers a well hidden secret about her brother -- her brother that merely bullied her for years.<br/>This year, a new teacher has also arrived to help Professor Sycamore in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, a new professor by the name of Colress. However, there seems to be something shady about him -- and something shady about his sudden interest in the Gryffindor House Head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It would be my fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I assumed most Muggles would have been excited to attend a magic school rather than a regular one with common core studies, but magic really didn’t pose an interest to me. Especially in a world where most people my age would have left home and school already, heading off to pursue careers in the field of Pokémon training.

Averting my gaze from the trolley window, hearing voices, I saw my brother walk by with some of his friends. All of them wore the same black uniform I did; however, theirs had a green trim on it. A patch on the right of it displayed a snake reading “Slytherin.” Silently, I wondered how my brother, a year above me, was able to do what he did without any stress. He was friends with most of his house, it seemed; was the Seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and was able to do school work decent enough to pass. As he walked by, he kept the same stupid smirk he always held, but thankfully ignored me for once.

The voices soon died as they passed; I turned my attention slowly to the window beside me once again. It wasn’t long before my attention was grabbed again by the loud stomping down the hall. Reaching breakneck speeds, the stomping stopped with a skidding slide in front of the booth door. A fluffy bush of blond opened the door, orange eyes sparkling brightly in excitement. His black cloak uniform, much like my brother’s, matched mine aside from the color of its trim. His was red, a red-and-gold lion patch on the right reading “Gryffindor.” Behind him followed three other students—two brunets and one with green hair—all wearing the same uniform as the blond.

“What’re you doing, leaving us all like that?!” shouted the blond angrily. He pouted, but not very seriously. “I’ll fine you for that, you know!”

“You’re the one who said you’d go and find the rest,” I commented.

“I assumed you’d follow behind me!”

I shrugged, forcing a small smile. “At least I was able to save us a seat.” The blond only rolled his eyes as he entered the car, sitting in the seat next to me. He impatiently crossed one leg over the other, glaring at me in a way that couldn’t have been taken seriously by any means. The other three Gryffindor followed, one of the brunets forcing a slight laugh at the situation. His hair was pinned back by a couple bobby pins, his eyes a bright gray color. He and the other brunet sat on the opposing booth, while the green-haired boy stood up by the door for a moment or so, seeming unsure of himself.

Gripping the door tightly, he coughed out, “Sorry.” Almost immediately, he tried sprinting out the door. Knowing that was a terrible thing for him to try, the gray-eyed brunet jumped up after him. The remaining three of us stayed back, not surprised, but still a bit worried.

“Must be the smoke,” commented the brunet across from me, gesturing to the open window next to me.

“Er – whoops…” I mumbled shamefully, going to closing the window. I hoped the air would clear a bit, but knew that wouldn’t be very likely.

“Kinda strange, though, don’cha think?” the blond added. “Wally hasn’t had any troubles in a few years.”

“You never know, with something like asthma. I’ve heard people who haven’t had anything happen for a decade or so can have something happen to them, if the right thing triggers it, anyway,” noted the other.

Nevertheless, it didn’t change the fact that I felt bad about it. If anything, that comment had made me feel worse. I hadn’t thought twice about the situation—what if something truly terrible had happened now? Without my immediate realization, a reassuring hand was pressed against my shoulder. I turned up to see the blond Gryffindor, who was smiling brightly.

“You don’t have to be so worried about it, really, Maike,” he ensured. “I’m sure nothing’s gonna happen. Nothing serious, I mean.”

I shrugged. “Who knows what’ll happen.” My tone was distant.

“We can still hope for the best, though,” reminded the brunet.

“I never really pegged you as the optimistic one, Hilbert,” mocked the blond with a small smirk.

“And I never pegged you as the one to comment about someone’s personality, Barry.”

He shrugged. “Someone’s got to take over for Brendan.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at their stupidity.

Much later, as the train slowed to its stop in front of the distantly visible castle, second years and above being separated from the eleven-year-old first years by a group of three multicolored professors. As I glanced back to them, I couldn’t help but feel a bit nostalgic and remember my trip as a first year. I smiled softly to myself, turning my attention back to the crowd running along before me instead.

People dressed in black robes with different colored trim were scattered along the trail, laughing and talking like a bunch of maniacs. Some groups were gathered with people with the same color trim, others with the same gender, and other groups that seemed to not care about either of those things. It was an interesting sight to see the four houses intermingling, as there was little time to do such most of the time—and this was coming from someone who shared the same house with none of her friends.

There was a group wearing blue that I saw, ranging in heights quite vibrantly. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, talking a lot more calmly than the rest. There was a group wearing green that I saw, looking all very similar with dark-colored hair. They talked suspiciously, whispering but laughing at the same time. There was a flash of a yellow uniform that I saw, but as soon as I looked for it again, it had disappeared. There was a pair wearing red that I saw: Brendan and Wally from much earlier on the train. However, they talked seriously, it looked, and it was a bit concerning.

“Hurry along! There’s only so much time in the day!” called out a familiar silver-haired professor. He rushed along the students as quickly as he could, unlike the other three professors in the area, who weren’t as eager to get everyone inside. He wore a black cloak, much like the rest of ours, but it held silvery metal clasps on the sleeves and shiny buttons down the front to match. Near its ends, it seemed to fade to a reddish purple to match the silky scarf around his neck.

Not-so-surprisingly nearby was another professor, this one with drastically different mint toothpaste colored hair. A white beret sat softly on his head, matching the color of his bright cloak. He attempted leading people toward the carriages, but mostly stood as a form of surveillance. A handful of girls giggled as we’d passed by him, which was nothing different from usual.

As we continued father on the path, we passed a smiling, intimidating woman with solid black robes trimmed with faux fur. Fluffy blonde hair stretched down her back and dipped over half of her face. She watched the crowd pass by, but didn’t bother doing anything else.

Just before the carriages was one final professor, appearing much more intimidating than the other three. He stood with maroon hair, which was slicked back and spiked, revealing his slightly aged, stern face. He seemed unimpressed as others passed by, making no gesture to any of the students and standing rather stiff. His cloaks were red-and-black, appearing more like he’d been wearing a cape than anything.

The student body loudly made its way to the castle via the carriages led by invisible horses of some kind, separating into four tables according to the color of their uniform when we finally reached the Great Hall. I followed the group of students wearing yellow; meanwhile, my friends wearing red went to another table. At the front of the room sat the other professors, along with the school’s Headmaster. His hair was fluffy and fire-like, some of it pulled back in a ponytail.

I sat by myself at the table, noticing it being considerably empty since the seventh years graduated last year. However, in a few short minutes, the first year class would enter, and a good chunk of them would be directed over to my table. I remember being a first year, having been very confused on the sorting process. I knew nothing about the school before coming here and had nothing to expect. Of course, my brother was older than me, so he went here a year before I did, but we’ve not had a decent conversation since we were kids. Besides, Muggles aren’t supposed to know about magic, anyway. Although, since I was family, does that mean that I’d have been an exception?

Soon, a parade of what looked to me as small children flooded the Great Hall through its entrance in the back. The usual three professors that lead them had separated, since only one was now leading the large group; the other two sat in front of the room with the other professors. He, having green hair, strolled along with a stool in his grip, a musty old cloth covering its contents. After the Headmaster hushed the crowd, the green-haired professor threw the cloth off of the stool, revealing a dusty, lumpy pointed hat. Some people in the tables called out admiringly in excitement.

“Before we begin the first feast,” the Headmaster boomed, “as you upper years know, it is time for the Sorting!”

Excitement roared from the crowds. The hat seemed to clear its throat beforehand, however, and sang out in a voice no one would expect to hear from a hat—especially since, well, it was a hat.

 

“ _Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_if you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folks use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!”_

 

The student body clapped soon afterward. Through the clapping, the green-haired professor that had lead the first years into the room dug around his pockets before pulling out a piece of paper and unfolded it. As the noise died down, he began to read off names on the list. One by one, the first years were sorted into one of the four Houses of Hogwarts as the hat announced them proudly for all to hear.

“ _GRYFFINDOR!”_ Pleasant excitement erupted from the red-and-gold table.

“ _SLYTHERIN!_ ” Thrilled people in green-and-silver howled.

“ _RAVENCLAW!_ ” The uniforms of blue-and-bronze cried out in ecstasy.

“ _HUFFLEPUFF!_ ” I joined in with the overwhelmed happiness of my loud table when a new student was assigned to our yellow-and-black themed house.

The sorting went on for what seemed to be a good twenty minutes or so. My voice began to grow tired and my throat began to ache from screaming so much. Just when I thought my voice would have given out, the last student was assigned to Slytherin. I sighed in extreme relief.

As chatter began to arise from the tables, we were silenced once more by the Headmaster. The three professors from before scattered to their seats at the front tables.

“Hello all, and welcome to Hogwarts! For those who’ve been here before, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” began the Headmaster. “For those who are new, my name is Professor Alder, and I am the Headmaster of this school. A final message before we begin our feast, if I might interject. We’ll be having a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year! No, he’s not replacing Professor Sycamore, but rather will work as a co-professor, much like how Professor Cilan, Cress, and Chili run their class. Please give your warm welcome to Professor Colress!”

A blond man with a strange strip of blue hair wrapped around his head stood up from his seat. There was a weak applause from the student body. Professor Colress seemed unfazed, but yet quite difficult to read. His face seemed to hold a rather cunning smirk with it – which made me wonder if he had other plans being in school rather than teaching.

As he sat down once more, Professor Alder boomed excitedly, “And with that, let the feast begin!”

The tables suddenly flowed with plates and silverware, a string of endless food overflowing the table. Instantly, I dived for as much that I could fit on my plate. No matter where I looked, I couldn’t find any other place that had food as good as it was here. I’d been stuffing my face with its delicious contents since my first year.

I was met by a surprise tap on my shoulder much more suddenly than I’d expected, nearly causing me to cough up what I’d tried to swallow. Followed by it was nervous laughter and a half-hearted apology: “Whoops, sorry, Maike!”

I sighed as I turned around, forcing out one more cough softly. “Brendan, I’ve told you over and over again to not sneak up on me like that. One of these days I’m surely going to choke and die.”

“Don’t say that,” he laughed. “I’m sure that won’t happen.”

“It certainly won’t if you don’t scare me while I’m eating.” I sighed. “So, how’s Wally doing?”

“Fine, I’d say,” Brendan answered, taking a seat next to me. I used to hate when we switched tables, being terrified that we’d get in trouble. However, since we’d done it several times now without so much as a warning, it didn’t really faze me. “He’s at the infirmary, though. Said he might be in there for a couple of days.”

I frowned, staring back at my plate of food. “This is my fault, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“I’d left the window open. It allowed the smoke from the train outside to enter. That’s probably what caused him to leave, isn’t it?”

Brendan seemed oddly confused, leaving me a silent blink of a response. Only after I glanced to him with a raised eyebrow did he reply to me directly. “Oh – yeah, that must have been it. Obnoxious, stuff like that.”

He didn’t leave off with a very convincing comment, but knowing him, I didn’t bother with pressuring him for another response. I only rolled my eyes and continued to stuff my face with the much less depressing food lying before me.

“ _Psst_ ,” a voice chimed from behind me. Knowing who it was, I initially ignored them. “ _Psssst,_ ” the voice lingered. Its noises continued on longer; I kept ignoring it until something was flicked at the back of my head. I flinched, rubbing the spot gingerly as I whipped my head around to see three snickering green-uniformed students. One of which being my brother, staring back to me with the bright yellow eyes I shared in common with him. His hair was shaggy and black, but shone in the light of the room. On either side of him were two brunets, the same he always hung around with. As usual, one never faced toward me; the other laughed at me with my brother. His hair was chestnut brown, so messy it appeared spiky.

“Hey there, little sister. Enjoying reuniting with one of your many boyfriends again?” my brother remarked, smirking brightly. I heard Brendan ready to jump up and probably slug him in the face—it wouldn’t have been the first time—but I prevented him from doing so.

“For the record, I don’t have a boyfriend, and I’ve told you I’m not interested in anything like that,” I replied, trying to hold back a burning annoyance.

He cracked a toothy grin. “Really? What a shame. You’re the one at loss with that.”

I smirked quietly. “Oh, are you interested in dating them instead?”

Instantly, his face flared up in a scarlet color. “Did I _say_ something like that?” he furiously denied. He flicked a glare to both me and Brendan before turning back to the rest of the Slytherin table, not saying another word. Brendan and I exchanged looks for a moment or so before breaking out into a fit of hysterical laughter.

To my disappointment, the plates had soon cleared themselves, indicating that the feast had finished. I stared with a dropped jaw in sadness; I hadn’t even finished a half of the meal. Seeing my exasperated expression, the brunet Gryffindor laughed softly. “The food’ll be here in the morning, you know.”

“But… I didn’t finish eating now,” I wept.

He huffed a small chuckle, taking a grip on my wrist and leading me up from the table. “C’mon, don’t worry about it. It’ll be here for the next ten months.”

I sighed softly. I would be back for my precious love that was food. Though that was twelve hours away… such a long, agonizing separation from the love of my life. As I began to walk out of the Great Hall with Brendan, my brother couldn’t help but make a snide comment. Brendan stopped walking with an irked sigh, smiling angrily. He turned around and faced my brother, saying the best thing I’d ever heard someone say to him.

“Emil, I do understand you’re jealous of Maike, but there’s no need to tease her about it.”

I held back an explosion of laughter. Giggling quietly, I looked back to see my brother’s expression, but was quite surprised at his reaction.

He stared, not blushing, not furious—he stared at Brendan rather concerned, his yellow eyes bugged out in despair. Without another word, he flicked his gaze back to his other Slytherin friends, storming off rather quickly. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Surely that couldn’t have done anything besides make him feel completely embarrassed. Why did he look so panic-stricken?

The Gryffindor shifted me forward. “C’mon, let’s just head back,” he murmured. “No need to bother with him.”

Glancing to him and then back to my brother, I eventually focused my attention on the exit before me. I nodded weakly.

We left without another word, Brendan splitting from me to head off to Gryffindor tower. I’d assumed the first years had already left the Great Hall with the prefects, so I hoped I’d be able to catch up with them to avoid being soaked with vinegar by incorrectly tapping the rhythm to enter Hufflepuff basement. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d done something like that, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. I wasn’t a musical person, so I never managed to tap the rhythm correctly more than three times. Most of the time, I tagged along with a prefect or jumped in with another group to avoid the vinegar trap.

However, in my excitement to avoid it once more, I ended up crashing into someone instead. “Ack—!” I muttered as I stumbled backward from the collision. “Sorry, about that—” As I went to apologize, I realized the other person was much taller than I’d expected, which caused me to look up to them rather than straight across. I blinked, gawking slightly in confusion.

They had bushy, long, minty-green hair that reminded me of leaves, somehow. His eyes were a bright blue, like water, but his young-looking face was shaded with a dark expression. I shrank back a little bit, trying to do so unnoticeably. As I did so, I found that he wore the same yellow uniform that I did, the right pocket patch displaying a black-and-yellow emblem and a badger reading “Hufflepuff.”

“You shouldn’t worry about it,” he replied, his voice flying past like a gust of wind. He spoke quickly and smoothly—it almost didn’t seem human. Before I could say anything in reply, he shifted around me, not seeming to care about what I had to say.

I blinked, realizing something much too late, but knew he couldn’t have gotten far. I spun around on my heel to spot him again, shouting, “Hey, wait!”

However, there was no one there. I stared out to the empty hallway, puzzled. After ignoring the fact that the kid I’d never seen in the school before disappeared before my eyes, I reestablished the reminder that I would now have to try and enter Hufflepuff basement by myself. There was no way at this point that I would be able to sneak in with the other first years. I silently wept in fear and disappointment.

I sluggishly continued walking to the basement, not really all that prepared to be soaked in vinegar once again. I walked passed the familiar picture of a bowl of fruit, reaching the end of the hallway with stacked up rows of barrels. I bit my lip, trying to remember which one I was supposed to tap in order to open the door. It was two from the bottom, I knew… but… It must have been the stack closest to the door. With my decision, I sealed my eyes shut as a precaution and tapped the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff.

Originally, nothing happened. However, I didn’t trust the door enough to even sneak a peek to see if it had opened without my hearing. I stood, horribly still, panicking in my spot.

“ _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_ ”

My high-pitched scream filled the hallway as what I knew to be a bucket of vinegar impaled my skin. It soaked into my clothes, as well, but the longer it lingered on my skin the more it began to burn. I knew I had to head up to the infirmary, but it was much too painful to bear moving. Why couldn’t it have been water? Even dust or something would have been better—why _vinegar?_

As I crept to the side, attempting movement, someone swept up next to me, helping me walk a bit faster. I refused to open my eyes, knowing it would be death if vinegar managed to drip into them. The person sighed loudly, but seemed a bit entertained.

“Did you mess up the rhythm again?” the calm voice asked smoothly. I knew it well.

“…Professor?” I asked. “No, I don’t think it was the rhythm this time. I forgot which barrel I was supposed to tap.”

“Ah, I see. It’s the barrel two from the bottom in the middle of the second row,” he reminded me. “I don’t mean to be rude, but surely you should try to figure this out after four years of attending the school.”

“I know, but it never seems to work any time I try it. It’s easier to just have someone else open the door for me,” I reminded him.

He offered a slight laugh as a response. He took my arm and began to guide me down the hallways. As I assumed we began to approach the infirmary—since I still had my eyes closed—I heard the sound of a door creaking open. “Nurse Joy—ah, there you are. Yes, we’ve had a student soaked with vinegar from the Hufflepuff security again.”

I thought I’d heard a woman’s sigh. “Wallace, I’ve told you many times that you should just get rid of that system all together. It’s dangerous and poor Maike always gets the brute end of it, and she’s obviously not who you’re trying to keep out!”

Quite quickly, the burning had stopped, and my soaked clothes were completely dry. Hesitantly, I opened my eyes, only being bothered by it because I’d held them closed so tightly for so long. I glanced at the pink-haired lady before me, who held a crisp off-white wand in her grip. She stared at the man next to me, who soon dropped the grip on my arm. I turned to him on my left, seeing the white-cloaked, toothpaste-green haired man smiling gingerly at Nurse Joy.

“That’s not quite something under my control, I’m afraid. The door has been protected like that for thousands of years, since this school was developed. To change a tradition like that just wouldn’t be right,” Wallace commented.

Nurse Joy sighed in defeat. “Fine. I’ve been shot down again. I just feel it’s a bit dangerous to have such a thing in a school…”

“Don’t bother with it,” he finalized. “I’ll lead her back to the basement myself, so there’s no need to worry.” He reassuringly patted my shoulder and began to lead me back out the door. “Thank you for the help once again.” As we turned to leave, I spotted a familiar green-haired boy sitting alone on a bed – Wally. However, when he spotted me looking at him, he hid his face behind the book he’d been holding. I blinked, puzzled.

The door closed slowly behind us. The atmosphere was silent, but I wasn’t really one to care. During my first couple of years, I’d thought it embarrassing that I had to be escorted by the House Head to the infirmary and back because I’d screwed up the rhythm or tapped the wrong barrel, but now I didn’t care much at all. There wasn’t much to care about, anyway; everyone screws up.

As we approached the Hufflepuff basement, Wallace tapped the barrel two from the bottom in the middle of the second row, tapping it to the tune of Helga Hufflepuff. With a _click_ , the door opened. I sighed in relief. The Head of Hufflepuff laughed slightly at my reaction.

“Truly, it’s not that difficult to open. I recommend you practice a bit in your spare time, if possible. It’d probably be a good idea to have an umbrella or protective charm, just in case.” He smiled to me.

I huffed a slight laugh. “Oh, thanks.”

He laughed slightly. “Anyway, you should head off to bed. It’s nearly curfew and there’s no reason for you to be up much longer, unless you’re going to do studying before school begins. However, I’m going to assume that’s not the case.”

“Of course not,” I answered bluntly, walking passed him through the door into the common room. It was lined with wooden walls and circular wooden doors that lead to the tunnel hallways. The furniture was soft colors of yellow and gray, along with wooden tables and chairs filling the area. It appeared more like a café rather than a common room for students, but it was quite comfortable and a great place to call home. I smiled wide as I returned.

Plenty of students were still chatting in the common room, but I didn’t pay them any mind. I took a dive down into one of the tunnels, making my way down to my dorm for a good night’s sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

I was woken by the delightful greetings of my roommates, who, truly, I couldn’t particularly stand. Their unwelcome screeches really didn’t allow me to appreciate them any more than I did.

“ _Get up, you lazy butt!_ Do you _want_ to be late to the first day of classes or something?”

This sassy voice pierced my half-awakened ears, angering me furiously. The other couple of girls, whom I could stand more but was still easily aggravated by, began to join in with the voice, saying, “She’s always late to classes anyway,” and, “Don’t bother waking her up. I’m sure she’s so deep in her sleep that she can’t even hear you.” I could hear them, yes, but chose to pretend that I couldn’t. They snickered away from the room: sassy, ignorant voices drifting off as they continued to walk away. In my bed, refusing to move, I groaned softly. Instinctively, I went to bury my face into my pillow and fall asleep again, really not having a will to wake up; however, I was instead startled awake by a soft voice speaking in a bit of a squeak from the side of the room. “Th-they’re always so mean to you, aren’t they?”

I nearly flew upright from under my blankets at the unfamiliar noise. Last minute, I forced myself not to leap in surprise, but I did sit up slightly faster than I would have any other day. The voice’s source was not unfamiliar, however: only the voice itself was.

“…Bianca?” I mumbled wearily, still not awake yet. “…I’m used to it by now, don’t worry about it…”

“That doesn’t really make it all that better, though…” she noted. The girl was social, yes, normally hanging out with the rude group that had just left. Usually, my roommates avoided me as much as possible. I never quite grasped as to why they hated me. They were kind to just about everyone else I saw them interact with, just not me. I even was fairly familiar with one of them beforehand, Dawn Platina being the cousin of my old friend Lucas. I hadn’t talked to him in a very long time, but had seen he was placed in Ravenclaw in my first year. I could only assume he was a year above me, but his cousin was in the same year as me. Maybe it was the fact that her family was much more rich than me that she had to demean me? But it didn’t explain the rudeness of the other two.

“What’s it to you, anyway?” I asked. “Don’t you normally gang up with them anyway?”

Bianca bit her lip, combing her fluffy mess of blonde hair with her fingers. “Normally, yeah. But, I don’t know… they seem to be doing nothing more than talking gossip about others lately, especially Lyra… I don’t want to be joined with people who are just going to be mean… but at the same time, I don’t want to leave them.”

“If you’re afraid of repercussions, don’t be. All they can ever do is talk bad about people,” I offered.

“But I don’t want people to think bad of me!” she squeaked, staring at the floor. “I’m sorry, there’s no reason for me to bring you into this… I’ll just figure it out on my own.”

“The school’s pretty big, I’m sure you’d be able to find some other friends who trust you.” I forced a smile, fatigue still overwhelming me. I desperately held back an urge to yawn.

She didn’t answer for a long while. Bianca stood up from her bed, seeming to ignore me, and went to get ready for the school day instead. I frowned slightly, burying myself back into the blankets of my warm bed. I could have stayed here all day if it was possible: anything to avoid the first day of classes… Though, I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad to down to breakfast and meet my one true love once again: the beauty that was Hogwarts’s food. Of course Brendan, Barry, and Hilbert would want to see me too… I wonder how Wally’s doing.

“You know,” Bianca’s voice spoke, snapping me from my thoughts, “I’m pretty sure breakfast will be ending in about ten minutes…”

I threw myself from my bed and tossed myself into the yellow-trimmed Hufflepuff robes for the school day. I brushed my hair for less than thirty seconds before racing out the room; I’d gotten ready in at least a fourth of the time Bianca had, and she wasn’t even done yet. But there was no way I was going to miss out on the first day of Hogwarts food, no matter what happened.

…Even if I managed to bump into someone, causing me to lose just that much more time. If I could stop being clumsy for at least one day, I _would_ give up food for a day. I’m sorry, my love, but you are placed at second priority. Wait, but if I gave up food in order to stop preventing me from obtaining, wouldn’t that be counter productive? Maybe I should think that through a little more.

I had been running so fast, thinking about absolutely nothing important, that when I _did_ crash into someone, I fell backwards to the floor. Complaining softly to myself, I blurted, “Sorry about that!”

As I went to lift myself up off the floor, they held a hand out to me. I blinked at first, seeming unsure of the object in front of me. I gently moved my gaze upward, seeing a boy smiling down to me. My eyes were locked on his, suddenly identifying every detail within his appearance.

Dark brunet hair fell to his chin, lightly parted to either side of his face. His eyes were a sparkling blue, some kind of color that seemed to engross me. His uniform was trimmed with a deep green, indicating he was a Slytherin. His smile was rather soft and kind seeming, making me debate on if he could truly be a Slytherin if he was being so kind. For some reason, I didn’t find myself breaking eye contact, nor doing any other action other than stare at him. He seemed to distance himself a little, saying, “Um… are you alright there?”

I blinked, snapping myself into reality once more. “A-ah! Uh, sorry about that, I was… thinking to myself. Spaced out a bit.” I pushed myself off of the ground, bluntly making myself look like a rude fool by not taking his offered hand. I instinctively bowed in sudden shame, blurting, “I-I’m really sorry about this! I’ll – I’ll just go now…!” For some reason, I was trembling with sudden fear and nervousness, almost as if I had ruined an entire theatrical performance by tripping and ripping down the whole set.

But the boy just seemed to laugh at me. “What region are you from that you bow as you apologize like that?” he asked. “I don’t mean it rude, don’t take it that way. Just, stand upright, please. There’s no reason to act like that around me.”

I instantly snapped back upright, knowing my eyes were rather bugged and my lip was quivering. He seemed surprised at first, but then quickly changed so he was smiling to me. Something didn’t fit right with the smile, however, but I couldn’t seem to place why. “Why don’t you tell me who you are? My name is Calem.”

“M-Maike Dubois…!” I replied with a stutter. My entire body was as stiff as it could possibly be as my heart was racing within my chest.

It looked like something clicked within Calem’s mind, but he only kept smiling to me. “Where are you heading right now? I can lead you there, maybe stop you from tripping into someone else once again.”

“I d-don’t need leading, thank you!” I blurted. “But I was heading to breakfast –“ Just as I said that, my stomach growled immensely. I could feel heat rise up in my cheeks. Calem seemed rather entertained by this as he stifled a small laugh.

“You’re a bit late to head out to breakfast, don’t you think? Classes will be starting shortly. Rather unfortunate that you’re so hungry that your stomach is growling to loudly, though. Don’t you Hufflepuffs raid the kitchen on a daily basis anyway?” Calem debated for a few moments. “Tell you what, how about I snatch you something to eat? I’ll meet you up at your class. What do you have first today?”

I blinked, my stiff stance becoming so stiff I could have fallen over like an imbalanced sheet of wood. “U-uh...”

“...do you not have your schedule?” he asked. I couldn’t find myself able to respond to him. Calem sighed, a bit of a teasing smile across his face. “That’s unfortunate,” he sighed, sleeking his hair back as he combed his fingers through it. “Missing the first class on the first day is going to be such a hassle to clear up with my teachers.”

My eyes widened as I realized what he was saying, suddenly snapping my motions into a frantic manner, contrasting my previous ice block stance. “N-n-no! Don’t worry about me! I’ll figure it out myself. I… I just need to find Professor Wallace… maybe a prefect…!” But my suggestions were cut off as Calem rested a hand on my shoulder, a calm expression across his face.

“ _You_ shouldn’t worry about me. I’ll get you both some food and your schedule, how about that?”

“No, please, Calem, don’t sacrifice your time for me like that. I’ll deal with it myself, it’s really none of your concern. I’m sure my teacher won’t mind… I’m usually late anyway.” My lips twisted into a frown, mumbling as I rambled on; “I hope I’m not concerning Barry and the others by showing up so late...”

“What was that now?”

“Nothing! Don’t mind it! A-anyway, thank you for the offer Calem, but I’ll deal with it myself...”

My voice drifted as his face suddenly seemed a little more dark. His smile seemed more like a smirk, his hand on my shoulder seeming to have different connotations. “Maike, I said you shouldn’t worry about me. Now, follow me.”

“But, Calem, I’ll deal with it myself…!” He moved his hand from my shoulder, forcing me to stop talking by laying a finger on my lips. A rush of heat leaped into my head, the heartbeat in my chest speeding up much faster than it had been any time before. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening here, and was both concerned and confused.

“There’s nothing wrong with accepting the help of others every once in a while,” he whispered. I couldn’t tell if the emotion I felt was intimidation or attraction – wait, what am I saying, attraction?! If I wasn’t in the position I was right now, I would be smacking my head against the wall. Blinking to snap myself out of this stupid trance, I could see Calem still had the same kind of smirk on his face. Glancing to the Slytherin badge still etched into his uniform cloak, I felt I really shouldn’t trust him any longer. But how in the world was I supposed to get him out of the way…?

He slunk back his arm, leading me forward. “Just follow me,” he said. “I promise there’s nothing to worry about.”

Nervously and feeling unwilling, I slugged behind him, finding no way to possibly worm my way out of this situation. I suddenly became aware of my surroundings, terrified that a professor or Barry and the others might show up. What if we ran into Wally returning from the infirmary? Anything could go wrong, and I really didn’t want to be seen following around a shady Slytherin boy. I didn’t trust him, I didn’t trust this to go right, I knew something would go wrong.

“Now, if I remember correctly,” Calem began, his voice rather loud, which made me really nervous; “we should be able to get your schedule from the Headmaster’s office. Breakfast is long since passed, so there’s no point in rushing there to get it, or the food you obviously need. It might be a little difficult to sneak into the office at this time, so I want you to keep watch for me.”

“Wh-what?! Why can’t I just be honest about it, though? I’m going to be late to class anyway, so I’ll have to explain myself there…!”

“Oh, don’t worry, if all goes according to my plan here, you won’t be late at all – in fact, you’ll be right on time.”

I blinked. If breakfast had already finished, how in the world was I going to be able to make it to class on time? Calem seemed amused by my sudden confusion, chuckling softly. “Don’t you know classes are a bit shorter on the first day, having longer time in between them so students can find their new classes easily? I don’t think I ever asked, what year are you, Maike?”

_Oh…_ I remembered. I had forgotten about that entirely. Usually time between classes was a mere seven minutes, but on the first day, it was fifteen. I bit my lip in embarrassment. “I-I’m a fourth year...”

“Really? You’re making some rather first-year mistakes. I don’t mean to treat you so lowly, as I am only one year above you, but you’re going to have to focus a bit more on how the school works around you.” His gaze seemed rather innocent, almost as if he was trying to be nice with the half-hearted comment he spoke. A bit of what he said reminded me of Hufflepuff’s House Head, Professor Wallace…

“I… I know, I’m sorry,” I blurted softly.

“Don’t apologize, there’s no need to do that. You just need to learn a bit,” Calem replied. “Now, hush your voice a bit, the headmaster’s office is just around the corner.”

I silenced myself without thinking, the brunet leading me around the corner. I had never been to the headmaster’s office before, so it was a bit of a shock for me when I saw the entranceway to it. Golden Pyroar statues sat on either side of the door, seeming to guard it, laying on black blocks of some kind with Linoones ingraved into the side. Above the door was a trim of silver, Serperiors carved into it. But the most spectacular thing about it all was the door: it wasn’t a door. It was a bronze statue with a blue-tipped Staraptor on it, its wings outstretched gracefully as though it was the final guard to the office. Seeing its brightly displayed entrance, I found it hard to believe that it was merely a doorway to an office. I could only begin to imagine what was inside the place.

“You keep watch outside here,” Calem ordered, gesturing to a spot where I would have full view of all the surrounding hallways. “I’ll sneak inside. Won’t take much time at all, no more than two minutes. If I’m unlucky, it might be about five.” He approached the Staraptor statue as I crouched to the floor, vaguely glancing to him as I tried to keep a watch on the hallways. My heart was shaking irregularly, being beyond levels of nervous that I usually felt. Of course, I was always up to sneaking around with Barry, Brendan, Hilbert, and Wally, but I trusted them to know what they were doing. I couldn’t bring myself to trust Calem… even if he did have a pretty face.

“Casteliacone,” he spoke, speaking directly at the statue itself. Nothing initially happening, I thought he was a bit crazy. However, a whirring and trembling of rock soon shook the floor, nearly causing me to lose my balance entirely. The statue curled around and up, revealing a path of hidden stairs once held beneath it. I stared in awe as I watched this happen before me, the ground shaking once more as the stairs clicked in place. Calem glanced to me one last time, flashing a small grin, and saying, “Now, if anyone shows up, which I’m hoping they won’t, hit the wall inside the small staircase room here four times – it will echo, and I’ll be able to make a quick escape. Once you do, dash into a hall where you won’t be visible. Try your best not to be seen, alright?”

I paused, nodding slowly and nervously in reply. He seemed fairly satisfied by this response, and made his way up the stairs. He was right about the echoing stones: I could hear his feet against the stairs as he walked up to the headmaster’s office. However, there was a dead silence afterward, I being unable to focus well on anything without gripping the Pyroar statue in fear. It wasn’t uncommon that you could find the House Heads roaming the halls during classes in order to prevent students from skipping class or doing things they shouldn’t – in fact, that’s all I’d ever seen them do, especially Gryffindor’s head. If I were to be caught by any, I’d rather be caught by my own House Head, since he’s usually pretty understanding of just about anything.

I leaped up in fear as I suddenly heard footsteps, scrambling to the staircase in order to warn Calem of someone walking nearby, but as I went to do so, I was merely met face-to-face with him instead. He smiled as he cracked a small laugh. “I appreciate that you were ready to warn me of someone, but it’s just me.” He held out a small piece of paper to me, it being rather yellow from aging. Ink was sprawled across it in a chart like manner: my name scribbled on the top. “I do believe this is it. I may need to return it later, so copying it might be a good idea, since there seems to be no other copy of it in the room.”

I stared at it blankly, flicking my eyes up to his face momentarily. So far, Calem seemed to not hold anything suspicious about him at all. Maybe it was just the green trim and Slytherin badge on his cloak that made me see him in a different, making me feel as if he was untrustworthy. But I couldn’t find that to be believable at the moment, so I only slowly reached out and took the schedule from him. “Th… thanks,” I mumbled.

“Not a problem, Maike,” he grinned. “Now, we should have a little over ten minutes left to get you food. I hear you Hufflepuffs have the kitchen right next to your dorms and raid it all the time, am I right? I’ve actually never been there myself, so I wouldn’t know.”

“W-well, sure, plenty of people go talk to the House elves and get food in return, but they don’t go there for food alone. I’ve never been their either, but I do know how to get there.” I locked my eyes onto the hallway to our left, not wanting to make eye contact with him at all. “It’s directly next to the dorms, sealed off by a picture of fruit. You have to tickle the pear in the picture to get the door to open… but the elves usually don’t take kindly to students waltzing in whenever, especially if it’s just for food.”

Calem seemed to take in what I said, pondering it a bit. “I see,” he complained. “This may take a little longer than anticipated, but I think I can still make it work with the information you’ve given me. Now, where is the kitchen? You’re going to have to lead me this time.” He flashed another confident smile to me, almost as if he were putting full faith in me to lead most of this food raid.

“I-it’s fine, Calem, you’ve already done more than enough, I’ll survive until lunch, I have before...”

“There’s no reason someone such as yourself should be starving at all. I’ll get you something to eat if it does make us late for classes. Let’s see, what did you have first on your schedule?” He turned to stand behind me, glancing over my shoulder to read the aged paper in my grip. For Mondays, my schedule went from Herbology to Care of Magical Creatures, then ending the day with double Potions. “Hm, I see,” he began. Since he was so close to my ear, I could feel his breathing, sending a shiver up my spine. “Herbology is outside, so it may be a little difficult to go from one side of the castle to the other, but I think it’ll be alright if we’re quick at the kitchen.”

“What about you? Won’t you be late for class? Or… do you have Herbology as well?”

“Oh, no, I have Defense Against the Dark Arts first period. However, knowing the teacher, I will be able to make a fairly easy excuse to be able to get into the class late without any sort of repercussions. I’ve been late many times before without so much as a note to the headmaster, so there’s no need to worry about me being late or on time.”

But this didn’t make me feel much better at all. However, I still ended up leading him to where the kitchen was, considering the fact it would only hinder me to start walking to Herbology; he would probably just keep following me, begging me to allow him to get food for me from the kitchen. I didn’t want to deal with him being clingy and annoying for the last few minutes before class, so I figured I might as well go along with it for now. I suppose it wasn’t as bad as he could be. But it didn’t change the fact that I still wasn’t really a huge fan of how he was acting.

“Here, the painting,” I said, gesturing to the bowl of fruit image hanging from the wall. Calem looked to it rather instantly, scanning it over; I assumed he was looking for the pear on the image. I just reached my hand out to it and tickled it myself, the pear moving as I did so. With that, the painting swung open like a door before us, a hallway revealed in vague light. Calem poked his head inside before facing me again, a shifty sort of glance within his blue eyes. “Same as last time. I’ll do my best to not get caught by the elves, but they’re tricky creatures. May take a _little_ longer than I had originally assumed, but it should be alright.”

I stood nervously at the painting doorway as he wandered inside. My heart went thumping against my chest once more as I was left alone in the hallway, participating in the help of some really suspicious actions. I kept getting visions in my head of the Gryffindor House Head walking down, being mad as ever that we were skipping class, even if it hadn’t started yet. I worried that Professor Wallace may turn down the hall to go back to the dorms and find me, being thoroughly disappointing in what I was doing on my first day of school, even after he’d been so nice to me just yesterday. What if the headmaster himself walked by? The head of Slytherin, of Ravenclaw?

Just then, I did manage to see someone in the hall – someone with red hair. Instantly fearing that it was the head of Slytherin, I stumbled to hide behind the painting and close it behind me in a frantic motion, but I instead tripped in my own panic, causing attention to be focused on me and me alone. _Ah…! No, please, don’t let Professor Lance get me in trouble! That would be the worst!_

“What the hell?” I heard muttered across the hall. But the voice was not Lance’s, it was much too young to be. I blinked, throwing myself upright and turning around, seeing the red-haired boy from before: though, this time, I actually got to look at him fully rather than just assume what he looked like from a distance. His glaring silver eyes stared at me with furrowed eyebrows, a dark shadow seeming to radiate from him. I stared back, wincing a bit from just looking at him. He blinked, turning to face me. “Who the hell are you?”

“I-I… I should ask you the same thing…!” I squeaked, trying to hold my confidence.

To my misfortune, he instead started walking towards me, his green-trimmed cloak flowing behind him as he stormed over to me. The boy’s hands were shoved into his pockets. “ _No,_ ” he replied forcibly, “ _I should be asking you._ ”

I gulped, hiding my face from him with my arms. “I-I’m sorry! I don’t mean to cause trouble! I’m just wandering the halls! Don’t hurt me!”

But he didn’t answer. I peeked from between my arms to look at him, seeing he was still glaring at me for a very long time. Something about his furious silver eyes were extremely intimidating. He seemed disinterested in me, turning his attention to the wide open kitchen door. “Oh? Just exploring are you? Then what’s in here?”

“Nothing!” I snapped, going to close the door, then remembering that Calem was still inside. Did the door lock on the inside? I guess I could have opened it later, but none of that mattered, since my slight hesitation had caused the boy to pull open the door further as I made a grab for it.

“Really, now?”

“Really!! Nothing to look at of interest, I was just in there now!”

He stared to me, still very sharply. The red-haired boy loosened his grip on the painting door, relaxing his position. “I won’t tell anyone that I saw you here if you don’t tell anyone that you saw me here,” he suggested. “I don’t need anyone to screw up my own personal schedule, or anyone to get me into further trouble than I’ve already been caught for.”

I blinked, mildly concerned. “I-… I will… if you… tell me your name first…!”

He seemed dissatisfied. “How many people are you planning on telling, then, if you’re asking for my name?”

“I’m not planning on telling anyone! I just want to know. I’ll even tell you mine: my name is Maike Dubois!” I yelled with such confidence that I was even surprised by my own actions – however, I was immediately shushed by the Slytherin boy in front of me. I froze up in shame on the spot.

“We’ll _both_ get caught if you don’t shut up,” he scolded in a hushed whisper. He seemed unwary, hesitating to speak further, his mouth opening once without a sound before he closed it, silence echoing within the hallway. All that could be heard for the longest time was the vague clanging inside the kitchen. Oh how I hoped that Calem would be done soon.

“...Silver,” the redhead whispered.

“What?”

“You asked for my name. It’s Silver. Kamon Silver.”

He didn’t say anything else to me: both of our heads whipped to the sound of crashing within the kitchen. Next thing I knew I saw Calem running, something in his grip, making a break for the door as he protected his head. He seemed in a panic; I could hear the yelling of angry elves in the background. I widened my eyes in surprise. “Maike!” he yelled. “Don’t just stand there! When I get out, slam the door shut! Get ready!!”

“What? Oh!” It took me a good moment to register the situation, sprinting around Silver in order to position myself to shut the door. As soon as I saw Calem run past him, I pushed the painting with all my strength, it slamming enough to mildly shake the floor; not nearly as much as the Staraptor statue, but it was enough. I heaved a sigh, hearing the angry elves on the other side. I guess it was a good thing that I hadn’t closed the door earlier.

As I turned around, Silver seemed a bit shocked at the situation before him. Calem was heaving heavy breaths, hunched over as I gasped for air, appearing to have some sort of bag tucked under his arm. It wasn’t very big, and had a sort of old cloth look to it. “...Calem?” Silver spoke.

The brunet Slytherin glanced up to the source of the sound, smiling a bit as he saw the person speaking to him. “O-oh, hey, Kamon...” he replied, still gasping for air. “H-how’s it going…?”

“What the hell are you even doing? What is that with you?”

"Ah, didn’t I tell you before… not to ask what I was doing and I wouldn’t ask what you were doing…?” Calem remarked. He seemed to have a similarly twisted smile to the one I saw much earlier today – not quite a smirk, yet to dark to be entirely innocent.

Silver glared at him. He paused, stuffing both of his hands into his pockets once more. “Fine,” he replied. “I’ll see you in the dorm later, then.”

The redhead walked off without another word, storming towards the direction he was originally headed in until I had caused a commotion. Calem stood up straight, combing his hair back once more with his fingers. He turned to me rather disappointingly, saying, “You’re very lucky only Kamon walked by, otherwise we could have run into drastic problems.” He pulled the pouch out from his arm, revealing its contents. “I had to make a quick decision as I sprinted out of there, since I was lucky enough to trip over a pot that was just so carefully placed in the dark area I happened to be hiding in, so this is all I managed to grab.”

I peered into the bag, seeing an array of sweets before my eyes. I suddenly felt overly excited, almost as if I had a sugar rush much before I even touched any of the candy. “Th-thank you...” I stuttered, taking the bag almost carefully, as if it was some sort of miracle given to me by the gods. I couldn’t begin to believe Calem was in the wrong anywhere any longer. I’m not sure if I fully trusted him at the moment, but I knew he meant no wrong with his actions.

“There’s only a couple minutes left until class begins, we should hurry if you want to make it to Herbology on time,” Calem noted, his voice a little rushed.

“O-oh! Yeah, you’re right, that’s on the other side of the school. You don’t have to follow me any longer, I can make it there by myself in no time.”

“Are you certain? I can lead you there easily with a couple shortcuts,” he offered.

“No, I wouldn’t want to make you late, even if you said you’d be totally fine with that. Don’t worry about me, I’ll make it just fine there on my own.” I offered him a rather wide smile. He seemed to laugh slightly.

“Alright, then, Maike. I’ll see you around. Good luck getting there on time.”


End file.
